Bill Moyers on ALEC

This week, Moyers & Company (check local listings) presents
“United States of ALEC,” a report on the most
influential corporate-funded political force most of America has
never heard of — ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange
Council. A national consortium of state politicians and powerful
corporations, ALEC presents itself as a “nonpartisan
public-private partnership”. But behind that mantra lies a
vast network of corporate lobbying and political action aimed to
increase corporate profits at public expense without public
knowledge.

In state houses around the country, hundreds of pieces of
boilerplate ALEC legislation are proposed or enacted that would,
among other things, dilute collective bargaining rights, make it
harder for some Americans to vote, and limit corporate liability for
harm caused to consumers — each accomplished without the
public ever knowing who’s behind it.

We explore ALEC’s self-serving machine at work, acting in a way one
Wisconsin politician describes as “a corporate dating service for
lonely legislators and corporate special interests.”